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AUBURN — It took every ounce of my self-control to not write this entire Mailbag about the Ryder Cup.

About how much more talented this U.S. team is than Europe on paper. About how, even though that is probably true, this Europe team still scares me to death on European soil. About how alternate shot is the devil’s golf. About the impending sense of defeat I felt as an American as I saw blue flag after blue flag pile up during a first day Europe finished with a 5-3 lead despite trailing 3-1 after the first session.

Breathe, Josh. Breathe.

Whew. OK. Let’s talk about something other than golf. As always, you can tweet me your Mailbag questions each week. I will answer the best ones on Friday.

Could Auburn do something in the Southern Miss game that would legitimately calm and quiet all the hand-wringing? Or will only Mississippi State give it that chance?

— Daniel (@daniel_killian)

Auburn can definitely calm some nerves against Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles are not some overmatched nonconference foe. They went 8-5 last year and made a bowl game for the third straight season. They haven’t played the strongest schedule so far this year (wins over Jackson State and Rice, loss to Louisiana-Monroe), but they rank eighth nationally in passing offense (353.7 yards per game) and fourth in passing defense (139.3).

But regardless of who the opponent is, Auburn can get something out of this game. The Tigers already have every reason to feel good about their defense, which ranks third nationally allowing 12.5 points per game, and special teams, which have undergone a complete turnaround so far this season. So they’re already two-thirds of the way there. Where Auburn needs to find some momentum is on offense, where things have been fairly stagnant outside of a 63-9 drubbing of FCS Alabama State. If the offensive line can get enough push to open up holes in the run game and give quarterback Jarrett Stidham time in the pocket, and Stidham can hit a few of the deep passes he has been missing the last two weeks, that would certainly calm and quiet the hand-wringing.

What are the Tigers doing to address the mistakes up front on the offensive line? I have gone back and watched the games, and they consistently have guys whiffing their assignments. A lot of guys turning around and watching their guy make the tackle.

— Ryan (@PearcyRyan)

Do you see the coaches making any more changes to the offensive line? Maybe using Calvin Ashley or Austin Troxell?

— Rod (@rodhughes56)

I think Ryan hit it on the head. Physical ability is not Auburn’s issue. There might any five-stars on Auburn’s line, but Prince Tega Wanogho, Marquel Harrell, Nick Brahms, Mike Horton and Jack Driscoll are talented and know how to block. The issues I’ve seen watching them is they haven’t really come all the way together as a unit yet. Sure, there have been some plays where they have been beat on blocks. That happens to every player. But it seems to me like there have been more plays where the group as a whole simply didn’t get the right guys blocked. I keep going back to that fourth-and-1 play in the red zone against LSU two weeks ago. That play could have and maybe should have worked, but Harrell ran past the man he was supposed to block after pulling across the formation, and Driscoll didn’t leave a double team in time to block the linebacker that made the tackle.

Wrote about this play this morning

Don't have a problem with going for it tho I understand arguments for take the points

To Rod’s question, that’s why I don’t think you’ll see any more changes to the offensive line outside of Brahms being at center over Kaleb Kim. Ashley and Troxell were highly regarded recruits and are probably more than talented enough to play either guard or tackle on the right side of the line, but adding new players to the mix isn’t going to help Auburn’s communication issues up front. The coaching staff feels the five that started against Arkansas last week have the best chance to jell together and become an effective offensive line.

Have you seen anything to make you think perhaps Jarrett Stidham is dealing with an injury? There weren’t even attempts beyond 10 yards until later in the second half against Arkansas and they weren’t accurate (he completed those passes fairly regularly last season).

— Toomer (@MagnoliaToomer)

I don’t think the length of Stidham’s passing attempts has anything to do with his health. There have been no signs that he’s dealing with an injury. Those short passes were a part of Auburn’s game plan against Arkansas, and they were actually fairly successful — Stidham went 10 of 12 for 102 yards on those plays, with is an average of 8.5 yards per attempt. Still, as I wrote Friday morning, the numbers do show that 71 percent of Stidham’s attempts, 80 percent of his completions and 60 percent of his yards have come on throws that travel 9 yards or less in the air. A lot of that is probably a reaction to the offensive line, which has struggled at times to create a clean pocket for Stidham and hasn’t created enough push in the run game, which affects all parts of the offense. The Tigers do need to find a way to get that fixed and get Stidham going the way he was last season, for sure.

I re-watched and charted every throw Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham has made through four games this season. The biggest takeaway?

When Auburn hits the hardwood this season, there will be some changes from last year. With that in mind, is a hot dog a sandwich?

— Rich (@richwdeperkins)

No.

Give me one good reason Auburn won’t go out and get either Kelly Bryant or Jalen Hurts. They’re both a perfect fit for Auburn’s system, both have relationships with Auburn players, and Auburn has all the pieces in place that they would want around them.

— Scott (@Simon_Says1)

The caveat to this question is “if Stidham declares for the NFL draft following this season.” Many believe he will because he’s a fourth-year junior who has already graduated, but if for some reason he doesn’t, it’s very unlikely Auburn would go out and try to add at graduate transfer at quarterback.

Still, Stidham leaving feels like the likeliest scenario given how highly regarded he is and how closely he considered it following last season. But even in that case, I don’t know how interested Bryant would be in Auburn, or how interested Auburn should be in Bryant. Bryant is leaving Clemson because he lost the starting job to freshman phenom Trevor Lawrence, which I do not fault Bryant for at all. It’s his final year of eligibility and his future. I’ll never say anything bad about a player taking control of that. That being said, Auburn has quarterbacks Malik Willis, Cord Sandberg and Joey Gatewood on the roster and 2019 recruit Bo Nix slated to join them in the spring. Bryant is more experienced then all of them, obviously, but with one year of eligibility remaining, would he really want to go somewhere where he has to prove that? He just left one of those situations, and Malzahn probably wouldn’t guarantee him the job (he didn’t with Stidham). Plus, while I think Bryant is a solid quarterback (he completed 65.8 percent of his passes for 2,802 yards with 13 touchdowns to eight interceptions and rushed 192 times for 655 yards and 11 touchdowns last season), he’s not a program-changer.

As for Hurts, he’s still at Alabama and likely will be for the rest of the season. If he does to decide to transfer, it would be after he graduates and with one year of eligibility remaining. I’m not going to speculate on that, because I don’t cover the Crimson Tide. But if Hurts does transfer, I think he’s a guy that Auburn should be very interested in getting to the Plains. Hurts regressed in his second season as a starter last season, but I think a lot of that has to do with offensive coordinator Brian Daboll not taking advantage of his quarterback’s strengths the same way Lane Kiffin did the year before. Hurts completed 62.8 percent of his passes for 2,780 yards, rushed 191 times for 954 yards, and totaled 36 touchdowns as a freshman en route to becoming the 2016 SEC Offensive Player of the Year. He can be a stud in the right offense, and we’ve seen what Malzahn can do with a quarterback with his skill set.